Friday, May 30, 2008

In Memorium: Harvey Korman

The Great Gazoo has passed away as the result of complications from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm he had suffered four months previously.

Emmy Award & Golden globe Award-winning Actor Harvey Korman, struggled for years to break into show business, but once he did he became a comedic mainstay for many decades starting with "The Danny Kaye Show" before moving onto his immortal run on "The Carol Burnett Show" where he spent the next ten years.

Korman also appeared on the big screen in the Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles, among other roles. I fondly remember his voice work on the prime-time family cartoon series, The Flintstones in the 1960's where in addition to occasionally providing other background character voices, his unmistakable nasal twang emanated from the otherworldly imp, The Great Gazoo.

How it all began ....

In 1933, publishers at Eastern Color Press, intent to make better use of their printing equipment (which frequently sat idle between jobs), came up with the idea of printing an 8-page comic section that could be folded down from the large broadsheet to a smaller 9-inch by 12-inch format. The result was the first modern comic book. Containing reprints of newspaper comic strips, this experimental comic book titled "Funnies On Parade" was given away for free. It proved so popular that the following year Eastern published "Famous Funnies" and took the bold step of selling the comic for ten cents through chain stores. The enterprise was a smashing success and Eastern began churning out numerous reprints on a monthly basis. Other publishers, eager to get in on the profits, jumped on the bandwagon and the comic book industry was born!